Raclette Returns at Cafe Presse
The cheesy French dish is the ultimate winter warmer.
Posted by: Christopher Werner on Jan 26, 2012 at 10:30AM
3 Comments
Raclette is a cheese you eat in the winter. It is cultivated in the French Alps in late summer, when the cows’ milk is at its best (read: fattiest), then matures four to six months before it’s ripe, right around the holidays. Consume the “chalet cheese” elsewhere in the year and you’re either having stale goods or something improperly aged. For these reasons, raclette surfaces only seasonally at Cafe Presse.
To be clear, we’re not talking about some cheese plate on the starter menu. Raclette also refers to a traditional French Savoie meal in which the eponymous dairy is melted then scraped onto cuts of meat and warmed potatoes. Often this happens with a table-side grill (like this) where diners cook the ingredients at their leisure using individual trays. It makes for a most fun dining experience—and a most pleasing winter splurge.
But at Presse that set-up is logistically not possible, so the chefs lay the cheese in a cast-iron skillet, cook it in the oven for four or five minutes, then finish it under the broiler. The result: a perfectly melty spread for the accompanying hams—two kinds—steamed spuds, and salami.
Though raclette is one of owner Jim Drohman’s most requested plates (thanks in part to some TV crushing), he won’t budge on the matter of freshness. “The heart of the dish is the quality of the ingredients.”
Raclette resurfaced at Presse earlier this month as a special, but as of the 24th it’s on the menu daily. A five ounce serving of cheese, plus the proteins, will cost you $16. (Downtowners, find a similar preparation at Drohman’s other restaurant, Le Pichet.) Vegetarians can sub the meats for winter fruits and walnuts. Order both versions and you’ve got quite the nice combo, suggests Drohman.
Right now there’s plenty of cheese to go around—Drohman guesses the raclette will be on the menu through early spring—but once it’s gone, you won’t see it for many moons. Act accordingly.
Tags: Cheese, Comfort Food, Cafe Presse, On the Menu, Jim Drohman
Raclette is not a French dish, it is a Swiss dish. The French might serve it, but it is Swiss. The other famous melted Cheese dish fondue, also Swiss!
True Swiss!
Hi Kathy and Kim,
My research showed that raclette also hails from the French Savoy in the Alps.